Apparatus for mixing and blending printing inks



L G. COLEMAN Filed July 1, 1955 F 5 Y w 7 m x l) m W L H 8 RW/ w g V 5 United States Patent APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND BLENDING PRINTING INKS Lee George Coleman, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Arco Plate Co., New York, N. Y., a partnership Application July 1, 1955, Serial No. 519,526

4 Claims. (Cl. 259-109) This invention is an apparatus for mixing and blending printing inks in order to obtain the desired colors, shades or tints, and is intended for use primarily in lithographing and printing establishments, in contradistinction to factories devoted to the manufacture of inks.

Heretofore the mixing of inks to obtain the desired colors, shades or tints has been carried out in printing and lithographing establishments by the hand mixing of appropriate colors through the use of a spatula because there is no satisfactory small capacity machine available for use in this connection.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple inexpensive machine capable of mixing ink in the small quantities ordinarily employed in printing establishments and which may be used in this environment to more efficiently and thoroughly blend inks than it was possible to blend them by the use of a spatula and to accomplish this result in a quick and easy manner.

The invention embodies many novel features among which may be mentioned the fact that the machine of this invention can satisfactorily operate upon inks in different quantities. Furthermore, the machine of this invention is extremely simple. in construction and may be readily cleaned. Also it is so constituted that different inks in different quantities may be subjected to mixing and blending at the speeds most appropriate to the best results. Moreover, the mixing of the ink in the machine of this invention is accomplished through the rotation of a smooth rod which I find is best adapted to produce the most satisfactory blends without frothing and splashing.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and appended claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Fig. l is a side view of the machine showing a portion of the machine in central section with the machine at rest and charged with a quantity of ink.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows the manner in which the mixing element, hereinafter referred to as the rotor, may be withdrawn, so that the ink may be readily removed from the machine.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing how the ink containing pan of the machine may be disconnected from the rotor and its prime mover to facilitate thorough cleaning of the machine.

Referring to the drawing, 1 designates a mixing pan which is generally in the form of a trough having vertical end walls 2 and 3 and downwardly converging side walls 4 which merge into one another at the bottom of the trough in an arcuate bottom wall 5, shown best in Patented Oct. 30, 1956 Fig. 2. The pan is adapted to be supported with its open top in horizontal position on legs 6 provided with individual leveling fittings 7 which may if desired be provided with suction cups 8 to hold the trough steady on any flat surface. Handles 9 are provided to permit the trough to be shifted and carried as desired.

Mounted on the exterior of the end wall 3 is a hollow boss 10, the interior surface of which forms a bearing for a mixing rotor 11 which in practice is so mounted with respect to the bottom wall 5 of the trough that the rotor 11 and wall 5 are coaxial.

The outer end of the rotor 11 is bored and tapped to receive the threaded armature 12 of a variable speed, reversible motor 13 having a control knob 14. The other end of the rotor 11 has a reduced shank 15 provided at its free end with a reduced integral stud 16. This stud is adapted to screw into 'a centrally tapped hole of a stopper 17. This stopper is cylindrical, has the same diameter as the shaft 11, and the outer end of the stopper is chambered as shown at 18 to receive the shank 15 and permit the stud 16 to be screwed into the tapped hole of said stopper with the outer end of the stopper abutting the end of the rotor 11 and normally forming, in etfect, "a continuation thereof. practice the stopper is preferably made of a length equal to the length of the bearing in the boss 10.

When the parts are in assembled relation for mixing, the shaft 11 and stopper 17 extend into the interior of the pan 1 to substantially the far end thereof, as shown in Fig. l. A fixed collar 19 is preferably mounted on the rotor so as to abut the free end of the boss 10 and thus limit the distance to which the rotor may extend into the pan.

When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1 and it is desired to mix or blend inks in the pan, the ink, indicated by the reference character I in Fig. l, is introduced into the pan. It should be understood in this connection that the inks thus introduced are of such colors that, when mixed and blended, they will produce the color, shade or tint desired, although if not initially introduced in proper quantities, one or more of the colors may be added from time to time during the mixing operation.

The colors having been introduced, the motor 13 is started and the rotor 11 is rotated to effect the mixing and blending operation. As the operation proceeds, the operator can determine, through regulation of the motor speeds, when it is obtaining the best mixing and blending speeds, which in some cases may be varied as the mixing cycle proceeds. In any event, the inks in the pan will respond to the rotation of the rotor in several ways according to the viscosity of the inks. For example, most printing inks are of a viscous nature and that portion of the ink which immediately surrounds the rotor will tend to stick to it, so that, as the rotor turns, it sets up a very definite shearing action with the immediately surrounding ink. This shearing action is propagated for an appreciable distance from the rotor,

thus bringing about a very nice separation of pigment I agglomerates and I also think that there is an appreciable intermolecular action of the same kind which brings the different parts of the different inks into the most intimate association with one another and produces a true blending of all parts of the several inks involved, so that in the resulting mix there will be no streaking due to insufficient blending. Moreover, as the blending proceeds, the rotation of the smooth rotor, coupled with the internal friction in the ink, causes a circulation throughout the entire body of the ink in the pan so that all parts of the ink are in turn subjected to the blending action to which I have referred.

In Fig. l I have shown a fairly large quantity of ink in the pan. No such large quantity, however, is required to obtain the desired mixing for experience has shown the rather unique modus operandi which may be performed with a relatively small quantity of ink in the pan, i. e., just enough to partially immerse the rotor. When such a small quantity is used, the pan may be moved to the left in Fig. 1, so as to partially withdraw the rotor from within the pan, i. e., so as to leave but a small portion of the rotor extending into the pan. When the machine is operated with a small quantity of ink under these conditions, it is found that the turbulence produced in the ink will draw the whole body of the ink longitudinally of the pan into the operating zone of the rotor and produce suflicient mass about the rotor to insure complete blending.

When the blending operation of ink in the manner described has been completed to the satisfaction of the printer and just the desired color or shade obtained, the pan may be bodily moved to the left sufficiently to locate the stopper 17 within the boss 10, as shown in Fig. 3. It will be noted that the stopper is provided at its free end with a radially extending tooth 20 and that the bearing of the boss 10 is provided with a complementary internal recess 21, so that, when the stopper is thus retracted, the tooth will enter into and be engaged with the recess 21 and thus limit the outward movement of the stopper. The stopper may then be locked in place by a pin 22 which may be passed through a perforation in the boss 10 and into a socket 23 in the stopper 17, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The tooth 20 and the pin 22 will lock the stopper firmly in position to permit the rotor to be unscrewed from the stopper at the stud 16, so that the pan may be bodily lifted away to dump out the ink or otherwise remove it from the pan and to permit the rotor 11 to be wiped clean of the ink which adheres thereto.

By thus disconnecting the parts from one another they may be thoroughly cleaned so that inks of entirely different colors may be subsequently mixed in the machine without pollution from a previous operation. When other inks are to be mixed and blended as described, the parts are reassembled by reversing the dismantling op,- erations described and the machine is ready for the next batch.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown a variable speed reversible motor for driving the rotor. This is the preferred form of the invention. However, in practice a fixed speed motor, reversible or otherwise, may be employed or in some cases where a relatively small pan is used, the rotor may be provided at its outer end with a crank to permit of hand operation.

The machine of this invention is relatively simple, economical to manufacture, of compact form, and the parts thereof are so light that they may be readily handled. The pan is of a relatively small size so as to operate upon relatively small amounts of ink although large enough to handle all ordinary printing and lithographing jobs in the great majority of plants requiring this kind of tool.

The present invention thus provides an economical and efficient machine for a field where heretofore none has been available. It does a better job than could possibly be done by hand manipulated spatula as here tofore, and it does the job in but a fraction of the time.

he foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms, but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A printing ink mixing and blending machine comprising: .a mixing pan provided at one end with a bearing, a cylindrical rod forming a rotor extending through said bearing into the interior of the pan, and means at the outer end of said rod to rotate the same, said cylindrical rod being provided at its inner end with a stopper of corresponding diameter detachably connected to the contiguous end of the rotor and retractable with the rotor to a position within the bearing of the pan to act as a closure for the bearing against the flow of ink therethrough while permitting the rotor to be detached from the stopper.

2. A machine according to claim 1, comprising means for detachably securing the stopper in place within the bearing against inadvertent displacement therefrom.

3. A machine according to claim 2, wherein the means for locking the stopper to the bearing comprises a pin passing through the bearing and seating in a socket in the stopper.

4. A machine according to claim 1, wherein the stopper is provided with a projection adapted to engage the bearing to limit outward movement of the stopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

